Bitcoin welcomes 2024 with a peak of over $45,000

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The Blends Briefs
TL’DR: Here’s a sneak peek into today’s newsletter

• Bitcoin welcomes 2024 with a peak of over $45,000. 

• Binance reports a 30% growth in users in 2023.

• Crypto phishing scams took almost $300M.

• India to block Binance and 8 other crypto exchanges.

• Indonesian police shut down 10 Bitcoin mining operations.

• Bitcoin Attack Stack 

Global Biscuits

Bitcoin welcomes 2024 with a peak of over $45,000.
Bitcoin briefly crossed the $45,000 mark on New Year's Day, marking its highest level since April 2022. The cryptocurrency has experienced a rollercoaster ride, similar to January 2022, when it surpassed $45,000 multiple times. This recent surge is attributed to the anticipation of the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitcoin's market capitalization exceeded $836 billion, and its trading volumes reached $22 billion. The cryptocurrency is up over 171% compared to the previous year, rising more than 13% in the past month and over 5% for the day. The market is closely watching the SEC's decision on Bitcoin spot ETFs, which could impact Bitcoin's price further.

Binance reports a 30% growth in users in 2023.
Despite facing legal challenges, including substantial fines and the resignation of its CEO Changpeng Zhao, Binance reported robust growth in its user base in 2023. The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange revealed an increase from 130 million to 170 million registered users, marking a 30% growth. Binance's peer-to-peer platform witnessed an 18% surge in trades compared to the previous year, serving 39% more users. The exchange's proof-of-reserves system expanded its supported assets from nine to 31. Binance highlighted its commitment to compliance, investing $213 million in compliance technology, processes, and talent, a 35% increase from the previous year. The company also emphasized governance changes, including the establishment of a board of at least three independent directors.

Crypto phishing scams took almost $300M.
According to a report from the blockchain security platform Scam Sniffer, over 324,000 cryptocurrency users fell victim to phishing scams in 2023, resulting in approximately $295 million in digital assets being lost to wallet-draining attacks. The report highlighted the continued growth of phishing activities throughout the year, with phishing gangs adapting by using different services when drainers shut down. The report also revealed that phishing sites have found ways to bypass advertising guidelines on platforms like Google and Twitter.

Tastes of the regions

India to block Binance and 8 other crypto exchanges.
In the latest development, India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has requested the effective ban of nine cryptocurrency exchanges, including major platforms like Binance, Kraken, Huobi, KuCoin, and others. The FIU stated that these exchanges were operating illegally in India by not registering with the FIU and failing to comply with national anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations. The FIU has asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the websites of these exchanges in India until further notice. This move follows the global trend of governments taking regulatory actions against major cryptocurrency exchanges.

Indonesian police shut down 10 Bitcoin mining operations.
Indonesian law enforcement, specifically the North Sumatra Police Force, shut down 10 Bitcoin mining operations, confiscating 1,134 Bitcoin mining machines. The police accused the organizers of the mining operations of electricity theft amounting to nearly $1 million. It was claimed that the mining operators had tampered with electrical circuits to power a significant number of Bitcoin mining machines, causing an estimated loss of 14.4 billion Indonesian rupiahs (approximately $935,666) due to electricity theft. This incident follows a recent case in China where a government official was sentenced to life in prison for facilitating access to electricity for Bitcoin miners.

Dictionomics:    Bitcoin Attack Stack 

Here are some common Bitcoin attack stack acronyms and definitions:

• 51% attack: A scenario in which a single entity or group controls more than half of the network's hashing power, allowing them to manipulate the blockchain and reverse transactions.

• DDoS attack: A distributed denial-of-service attack in which a malicious actor floods a network or server with requests, overwhelming its capacity and disrupting its normal function.

• Double spend: A fraudulent attempt to spend the same Bitcoin twice by broadcasting two conflicting transactions to the network.

• Dust attack: A type of spam attack in which a malicious actor sends tiny amounts of bitcoin (dust) to many addresses in order to track their activity or clog up the network.

• Eclipse attack: A type of network partitioning attack in which a malicious actor isolates a node from the rest of the network by intercepting and filtering its communication.

• Replay attack: A type of attack that exploits the lack of replay protection in a hard fork by broadcasting a valid transaction on both chains, resulting in an unwanted transfer of coins on the other chain.

• Sybil attack: A type of attack that involves creating multiple fake identities or nodes on a network in order to influence its consensus or disrupt its operation.

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